AXIONIT® Technology

Scandium is extracted as a by-product of aluminum, titanium, and uranium production. Existing technologies for its separation are multi-stage, as well as energy- and resource-intensive. This results in a high price for the final product.

AXIONIT® technology allows extracting scandium in a single stage with the subsequent production of a concentrate that can then be used to prepare aluminum-scandium alloys. This makes the final product significantly cheaper and expands its areas of application.

Advantages of AXIONIT® Technology

scandium extraction efficiency of 90% or more

high sorbent capacity of 2-10 kg/m3

sorbent service life of more than 200 cycles (equivalent to 6 years of continuous operation)

metal production time of up to 3 weeks

use of readily-available desorption reagents: sulfuric acid, hydrofluoric acid

Scandium production

Main stages of the technology:

leaching (conversion) of scandium into a soluble form

feeding ion-exchange columns with leaching solution containing scandium and impurities of other metals

desorption of scandium from saturated sorbent to obtain enriched scandium concentrate

additional purification of scandium concentrate

metallurgical treatment to produce scandium alloys

U production facilities

production of Al-Sc alloying compositions

titanium-magnesium production facilities

bauxite (red mud) processing plants

ScF₂

1

conversion of raw materials into solution

2

Sc sorption by a selective sorbent

Sc₂O₃ production

3

4

5

Ion-exchange resins

AXIONIT® Sc-sorb

Purpose

Extracting scandium from return sulfuric acid solutions (pH=2) of uranium ore in-situ leaching

Physical and chemical properties

Chemical composition: styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer with encapsulated extractant

Appearance: spherical granules

Granule size: 0.2–1.0 mm

Static capacity for scandium: not less than 5.5 mg/g

Reference

Extraction of scandium from return sulfuric acid solutions (pH=2) of uranium ore in-situ leaching